Having just watched the NZ v PNG Group 1 World Cup match, I am unsure which Aussie TV channel has the broadcasting rights for the competition.
Ant & Tip O’Dean two Aussie sweethearts employed to commentate seemed oblivious to NZ & PNG or the fact England were not playing in the match as they continued their rant against all things Pom, or maybe they assumed one of the teams had metamorphosed into Great Britain.
Eventually, and after many less than positive references to said GB, the intellectual duo finally realised they were on the wrong game or perhaps planet, but with a typically Aussie lack of panache made a good fist of things when it came to light the referee was a Pommy bar steward, thereby allowing the two pundits the opportunity to continue their haranguing of all & everything GB as they immediately got into the swing of things by verbally bashing the GB referee where & whenever possible.
When the Pom ref awarded a penalty & the offending player stated he had not heard the refs shout, the commentators seemed to feel the penalty was uncalled for, I feel sure this would lead to some very interesting games with players telling the ref they never heard him say they couldn’t punch the opposition, or perhaps, sorry ref I thought you said “grab a ball”.
The Aussie TV analysts appeared to take umbrage with him (ref) as he continually referred to the players as “mate” during the game.
The two critics immediately took this as a slight against all? things Australian (little to worry about there then) from the Pommy upstart & questioned if he (the ref) knew that the word “mate” was an Aussie colloquialism for anyone who was a friend, which certainly excluded the referee and anyone else who may have been a Pom.
The Aussie commentators may have gone from umbrage to total indignation had someone had the gall to point out the word “mate” was in fact an English word, a language that has been in use from around the 5th century, whereas Australia was colonised in 1788 by the said Pommy bar stewards or more accurately by bar stewards the Pommies had rejected.
The English language could only offer them & the world Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley & of course Enid Blyton whose target readership was the under fives & the adult population of Sydney, in return the Aussies generously gave us Jason Donovan, fortunately the Pom’s are a forgiving nation of philanthropist & benefactors thus allowing the English language to be used by the honourable & in the Aussies case dishonourable, just thought I’d redress the balance, “MATE”.
Perhaps the Pom referee would have been given a bigger ‘rap’ by the two obviously impartial analysts had he shown the same qualities as the Aussie ref who for the 1st twenty minutes of the Oz v England game made sure the Aussies had an extra man on the pitch, unlike the 2nd half when it seemed like they had an extra team on the pitch. |
